TGL’s debut made quite a splash. The league promised a fresh, fast-paced twist on golf with new rules and a vibe that was way different from what we’re used to seeing on the course. The SoFi Center was full of energy, even before the big debut but not without rumors. It was claimed that TGL would be using paid actors to fill the stands. The actors were offered between $150 and $250 per event, plus free merchandise, just to make sure the venue looked packed and lively. The reports were partially confirmed too.

Adam Freifeld, a spokesperson for TGL, confirmed the arrangement, explaining that the league was using “seat fillers,” much like an awards show, for their small and intimate venue. However, as the reports gained traction, TGL swiftly clarified that paid actors were only used during dress rehearsals and for content creation, not during the actual live events. But WPTV didn’t back down, sticking with their claim that the ads were about live audiences from January to March, fueling further confusion about what was really going on behind the scenes.

There seems to be some clarity now! 

TGL over did the chanting bit

On the Fore Play podcast, the hosts dug into the whole fake crowd situation, calling out the music, fake cheering, and exaggerated chants. One host brought up how golf has used fake crowds before—like at Ryder Cups and President’s Cups—where actors are hired to chant “USA” on the first tee. The hosts felt it was pretty obvious during TGL’s premiere. They said the crowd noise felt forced, with “people already having chants for these teams that just got made up 10 seconds ago,” a moment that seemed utterly inauthentic.

The host noted, “I thought last night was very evident of that. I think that they had some people there that were like hootin’ and hollerin’. At one point I heard a Bay Club like little chant with a little clap going on where it’s like, that’s not happening in reality.” but the fake crowd thing wasn’t the only thing bugging the hosts.

They also wondered about the whole approach of the league. Golf is already trying something new with this format, and they felt throwing in music and loud crowds might have been too much. “I don’t think you need to change it up that much. It can still just be as close to golf as you want it to be,” one host said.

This holds weight since Fore Play Podcast was involved in the marketing of the league, and he sure has some inside information on it. So, whether or not the paid actors in the crowd were as big of a deal as some reports made it out to be, one thing’s clear: TGL’s format is definitely under the microscope. Golf fans are picky, and if TGL wants to stick around, it’s going to have to find the right balance between doing something new and staying true to what makes golf, well, golf.

But it was not all bad. The debut this week turned some heads—not just because of its tech-savvy style, but the ratings were pretty wild, too.

Tiger Woods’s TGL made an uproar with it’s TV ratings

According to Nielsen numbers reported by Front Office Sports, nearly a million, 919,000, precisely viewers tuned in to ESPN for the first broadcast of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s brainchild.  To give you a little perspective, that’s more than any LIV Golf broadcast on The CW in 2023 and 2024, and it even topped last week’s PGA Tour season opener at The Sentry, which aired on Golf Channel and NBC. Sports Media Watch called that out, and it’s pretty impressive when you consider it was going up against other sports programming.

For a little context, last year during the same time slot, ESPN aired a Duke-Pittsburgh men’s college basketball game, which pulled in 717,000 viewers. So yeah, TGL’s debut didn’t just break into the conversation—it kind of owned it. The Bay Golf Club took down New York Golf Club 9-2. Even though Woods and McIlroy weren’t on the course, they made sure to show up in the booth, joining ESPN’s Matt Barrie and keeping things lively.

Woods’s Jupiter Links Golf Club will go head to head against Los Angeles Golf Club on Tuesday, January 16 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. McIlroy’s Boston Common Golf will take on Woods’s team on January 27. With 15 matches in the regular season wrapping up on March 4, followed by playoffs, it looks like we’ve got some good golf to look forward to.